Thursday, December 3, 2009
Coming in 2010
See you in January with plenty of pictures of thrifty ways to spruce up your new digs!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
A Friend's Nursery - ooh la la!
Here are the little baskets packed with her goodies for the shower.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
DIY Tie-Dye Shirts!
Clothing optional during the process
Gloves not optional - this dye is serious business
The kids picked different banding techniques - but each turned out cool
Such concentration...
And yes, this is my daughter modeling her finished product in all her glory. No idea why goggles were necessary here - but hey - I'm liking it. You can also catch a glimpse of my son off to the side... but he isn't wearing his goggles so I couldn't let him in the photo.
Linking up to DIY day at Kimba's!! :)
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Transitioning to Fall
So - our table looked like this a lot of the summer...
And is now transformed to this:
I used a mixture of real and plastic pumpkins and squash... the leaves were actually cut off a strand of leaf garland that I had from a long time ago. The brown charger that they are all sitting on was like $2 on clearance... cheap project but it gives the table a fun look for visitors.
The other area that had a little metamorphosis is our front porch. The summer re-do had it looking like this:
The addition of a fall bouquet from above mentioned super-cheapo store added a fall "pop" that I love to come home to!
The little nest and eggs in the bowl were actually free. The kids found the nest in the front yard... and the little eggs are small wooden ones from my daughter's play kitchen (which is currently in storage as part of our de-cluttering attempt while our house is on the market). So - voila, there you have it. Quick, inexpensive and minimal... but it does feel a bit more like fall now!
Friday, September 25, 2009
A Fun Family Craft - Family Flags!
So, here it is part way through the project. There was a lot of planning, cutting and gluing going on. He worked for at least an hour (which, you know, in kids years is like 4 hours).
Have I mentioned I got him his own hot glue gun for his birthday last year. Sniff - my little boy makes me so proud. ;) Look at him wielding that dangerous tool. (BTW - Steelers jammies made by yours truly).
AND - this is one that my three year old and I made together. She - of course - had to pick out some felt too when her brother was doing his shopping. She's not quite as skilled with the hot glue and scissors as her brother (yet) - so she did the planning and I did the cutting for her. She did most of the placement and gluing though. Pretty cool, huh? I'm sure any of you who have young kids recognize this guy.
All in all a fun and successful family craft time that didn't end in tears or cost a lot of money... can't ask for much more than that. I can also see doing these with a theme for holidays, etc.Monday, September 21, 2009
A Place for My Dog Toys
Hope Mighty Boy doesn't mind I'm linking up to Creative Cats. ha ha ha.
Wow! The power of a pressure washer!
This isn't pretty like the other stuff you'll find here... but it is a metamorphasis! ;) Check out a bunch of other cool projects at Between Naps on the Porch!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The making of a beautiful nursery!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Trash to Treasure Coffee Can
Linking up to Poppies at Play to give you a chance to see some way more creative projects! Also, for some impressive Trash to Treasure - check out Reinvented!
Monday, August 24, 2009
A Train Case Metamorphosis
- Primed and painted it by hand (didn't spray paint).
- Used all materials that I had on hand.
- Actually painted contact paper and cut into decals before applying to the case.
- Coated it all in ModPodge and then an acrylic sealer.
- Painted the hardware.
- Covered the handle with painted contact paper. (yeah, weird).
- Skipped the "touching up" phase - it's sitting on top of the fridge to hold medicines and it's fine.
After:
Some things I'll do different next time:
- Try to use spray paint so that I don't have unsightly brush strokes - OR - cover the whole thing with contact paper and mod podge - only painting the trim.
- Buy the color of contact paper that I need - painting it actually worked... but kind of a pain.
- Probably just leave the hardware alone. And the handle.
This little dudes are heavy too... so my visions of actually traveling with one may not actually happen. But - it does look cute sitting around the house, no?
Linking up to Metamorphosis Monday! Check her out!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
My $12 side table!
I got this old cutting board (I guess) at the Goodwill store. One of the HEAVY items I wrote about a few posts back. Here it is just setting on top of a little plastic table that my kids use.
A few weeks of searching finally turned this up at a different Goodwill. The coolest part? The top turns. Wheeeeee!
Part way through the process - my beautiful, recently re-done cutting-board-turned-table-top ended up like this. Whoops.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Toddler Birthday Outfit
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Transformation Thursday
The transformation that I'm showing off this Thursday is actually an item that has been transformed before. This sad little chest was once painted a mint green (oh the horror) and then we stripped it down and had been using it in it's natural state (oh the horror) for several years now. It's been a toy chest and a coffee table and right now functions as both:
The pictures made me very sure of my decision to paint this little chest. The wood is not pretty... I was used to the way it looked, but seeing it in the photo made me realize that this baby needed something.
Part of my transformation also included this tray and this rug. The tray I already transformed once before. It also has a matching partner... but it didn't work with my new chest. The rug was in our living room before but I had moved it out. I decided to try something new with it. Here are the before pictures of those two items:
The picture below shows how I taped off an area around the edges. Did you know you can paint a rug? I was pretty sure you could... but I wouldn't have tried it on a rug that I would be upset if it didn't work out. This I originally bought at Big Lots! I can't remember how much I paid... but it was very
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
I guess it's a spice rack...
I just had to clean it up, paint it white, and add some decorative paper to the back. I modpodged the paper so that if it does get dirty being in the kitchen I'll be able to wipe it clean. I actually painted it by hand with kitchen and bathroom trim paint that is supposed to be hearty and wipe clean well. It sounds very well planned - but actually I didn't have any white spray paint on hand so I just used what I had. I love how it turned out and I put all my little spices that I use almost daily in there instead of balancing them on my stove (see picture below). The other problem is the stacked dishes on top of the cabinets. I dealt with that too.
Here is a close-up of my pretty new spice box rack thingy.
I also bought some baskets that day that were on sale at - of course - Michael's to store my platters, dishes, fondue pots, etc. that were stacked on the cabinets. The finishing cute-but-useful touch were the little silver frames that are next to each basket. I bought these a few weeks ago on clearance at Michael's for pennies a piece. I painted the little cardboard inside with chalkboard paint and labeled what is in each basket so that I don't have to go searching up high when I need something.
Here's a better view of the finished product:
So, next up is to add some hardware to the cabinets. AND - does anyone have a good idea how to non-permanently but strongly attach that little rack to the back splash there? I have used TONS on the 3M mounting strips that are supposed to hold things permanently but they aren't working. My husband thinks we need to go ahead and drill into the wall - but I kind of hate to do that because we're probably going to be selling this house in less than a year. Any suggestions are very welcome! Thank you!
Click here for some more great second-hand treasures.
Also - Just found a new site that is very cute! Joining her Creative Cats Party - check it out!